Abstract
In this theoretical and argumentative paper we analyse the implications of social buttons as used on social networking sites (SNSs). Although social buttons have been around for many years, there is still a scarcity of research on their effects despite their pivotal functions for the success of SNSs. We conceptualise these buttons as Like buttons, Share buttons and Follow buttons and analyse them and their associated actions through the lens of social capital theory. Our analysis shows how the clicker and the clickee are affected differently through these social buttons, and in the process, we also propose seven concepts to describe the social implications of these buttons. Having discussed these concepts, we conclude the paper by offering three contributions; (a) the distinguishing between the clicker and the clickee; (b) the subtle but yet distinct differences between buttons, and; (c) a set of ways through which social buttons become productive.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Adler, P.S., Kwon, S.W.: Social capital: prospects for a new concept. Acad. Manag. Rev. 27(1), 17–40 (2002)
Ahuja, M.K., Galletta, D.F., Carley, K.M.: Individual centrality and performance in virtual R&D groups: an empirical study. Manag. Sci. 49(1), 21–38 (2003)
Alonso, O., Kandylas, V.: A Study on Placement of Social Buttons in Web Pages (2014). arXiv preprint arXiv:1410.2828
Boltanski, L., Thévenot, L.: On Justification: Economic Ideas and Political Change in the Twentieth Century. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (2006)
Bourdieu, P.: The social space and the genesis of groups. Theory Soc. 14(6), 723–744 (1985)
Boyd, D., Ellison, N.B.: Social network sites: definition, history, and scholarship. J. Comput. Med. Commun. 13(2), 210–230 (2007)
Burke, M., Kraut, R., Marlow, C.: Social capital on Facebook: differentiating uses and users. In: Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 571–580. ACM Press (2011)
Coleman, J.S.: Social capital in the creation of human capital. Am. J. Sociol. 94(6), S95–S120 (1988)
Ellison, N.B., Steinfield, C., Lampe, C.: The benefits of Facebook “friends:” social capital and college students’ use of online social network sites. J. Comput. Med. Commun. 12(4), 1143–1168 (2007)
Ellison, N.B., Steinfield, C., Lampe, C.: Connection strategies: social capital implications of Facebook-enabled communication practices. New Media Soc. 13(6), 873–892 (2011)
Gerlitz, C., Helmond, A.: Hit, link, like and share. Organising the social and the fabric of the web. In: Proceedings of the Digital Methods Winter Conference, pp. 1–29 (2011)
Gerlitz, C., Helmond, A.: The like economy: social buttons and the data-intensive web. New Media Soc. 15(8), 1348–1365 (2013)
Granovetter, M.S.: The strength of weak ties. Am. J. Sociol. 78(6), 1360–1380 (1973)
Halupka, M.: Clicktivism: a systematic heuristic. Policy Internet 6(2), 115–132 (2014)
Marwick, A., Boyd, D.: I tweet honestly, I tweet passionately: Twitter users, context collapse, and the imagined audience. New Media Soc. 13, 114–133 (2011)
Marwick, A., Ellison, N.: “There isn’t Wifi in heaven!” Negotiating visibility on Facebook memorial pages. J. Broadcast. Electron. Media 56, 378–400 (2012)
Nahapiet, J., Ghoshal, S.: Social capital, intellectual capital, and the organizational advantage. Acad. Manag. Rev. 23(2), 242–266 (1998)
Putnam, R.D.: Bowling Alone. Simon and Schuster, New York (2000)
Van Dijck, J.: The Culture of Connectivity: A Critical History of Social Media. Oxford University Press, Oxford (2013)
Widén-Wulff, G., Ginman, M.: ‘Explaining knowledge sharing in organizations through the dimensions of social capital. J. Inf. Sci. 30(5), 448–458 (2004)
Williams, D.: On and off the ‘Net: scales for social capital in an online era. J. Comput. Med. Commun. 11(2), 593–628 (2006)
Vitak, J., Ellison, N.B.: ‘There’s a network out there you might as well tap’: exploring the benefits of and barriers to exchanging informational and support-based resources on Facebook. New Media Soc. 15(2), 243–259 (2012)
Wasko, M.M., Faraj, S.: Why should I share? Examining social capital and knowledge contribution in electronic networks of practice. MIS Q. (2005)
Zhou, T.: Examining social capital on mobile SNS: the effect of social support. Program 50(4), 367–379 (2016)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG
About this paper
Cite this paper
Ljungberg, J., Stenmark, D., Zaffar, F.O. (2017). Like, Share and Follow: A Conceptualisation of Social Buttons on the Web. In: Stigberg, S., Karlsen, J., Holone, H., Linnes, C. (eds) Nordic Contributions in IS Research. SCIS 2017. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 294. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64695-4_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64695-4_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-64694-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-64695-4
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)